GurBlogs

The Cockamamy Caucuses

2008-01-05T13:36:58-08:00

I'm certainly no spelling bee, but did get a chuckle out of our collective inability to spell the word caucuses. On Thursday, the day of the Iowa Caucuses, Google Trends picked up on two peculiar searches: the 46th most popular search that day was "iowa caucasus" and the 51st was simply "caucasus".

Turns out the Caucasus are a mountain range in Caucasia, between the Black and Caspian seas, along the border between the Russian Federation, Georgia, and Azerbaijan.

Perhaps some Obama supporters linger there as well?

I'm just sayin'...

If You See Something, Say Wha?

2007-12-17T13:14:45-08:00

I'm no rocket scientist, but strikes me that if you're gonna go around and take credit for your successes, that your successes should be just that...successful. 1,944 people who saw something and said something (a rather questionable initiative to begin with IMHO), seems rather miniscule-ish when you consider that over 2 billion (yes, that's billion with a b) utilized NYC transit during the same time period. That puts the success of this PR campaign at .00000097%. Hooray!

Pho-log: Wife In Restaurant

2007-12-15T16:48:13-08:00

Pho-log: NYC x LIC

2007-12-15T16:31:46-08:00

Movin' On Up

2007-06-21T20:13:24-07:00

Again, nothing fancy, but on the "wamu sucks" front, my puny lil' blog is moving up Google's charts. As of tonight, it finds itself in position #1 of page 3 ...

And just think, I've done nothing to actually publicize my angst just yet...

Willful Neglect, Selective Ignorance or Simply Negligent?

2007-06-14T12:04:31-07:00

Yesterday marked the three week anniversary of my blogging campaign vs. WaMu. Haven't made a big stink about it yet, really. I've just been relying on Google's native indexing mechanisms to work their magic... and they already have!

So, in celebration of the 3 week mark, thought I'd share with you this bit of interesting information: that Washington Mutual has been spending considerable amounts of time on my site. As you can see in the image below, they actually spend large chunks of time here. And they've been coming back over and over again.

But curiously, I still haven't heard a peep...

Trafficking In WaMu Complaints

2007-06-01T14:39:00-07:00

Just a note. Only a week at it, and already interesting Google search traffic coming my way:

WaMu Ripoffs

2007-05-28T13:09:23-07:00

Just came across the Ripoff Report, a site "by consumers, for consumers" whose sole purpose is expressed thusly: "Don't Let Them Get Away With It". I'm totally down with that!

Interestingly, there are 15 pages worth of consumer complaints on ... you got it, none other than good 'ol Washington Mutual.

So without further adieu, just click here to enhance your viewing pleasure!

(And, btw, stay tuned! Much more and better stuff to come...)

Apparently, the Feeling Is [Washington] Mutual?

2007-05-24T07:13:36-07:00

Turns out that I haven't been left to wallow alone in my WaMu customer service angst. Recently The Consumerist ran this piece about their experience with WaMu, and offered a rather glorious modification of the WaMu logo to boot.

Hmmm ... I wonder what more we'll discover?

On the Blowification of WaMu

2007-05-22T18:16:02-07:00

I can't even remember the last time I was put through the customer service ringer. You know, it's that feeling you get when one customer service rep passes you on to the next, promising better things to come - a step usually repeated umpteen million times - until you realize that an hour or more have gone by and that you're still no closer to resolving your problem then you were before picking up the phone in the first place. Ring a bell?

Now, thanks to WaMU, I just got a fresh taste of said hellacious experience and people, it sucks!

The story is actually quite simple: I filed a dispute a few months back about some transactions I did not recognize; but instead of resolving my dispute, WaMu took it upon themselves to simply write-off my account (which I had wanted to close). Problem is, by writing off my account and not resolving my issue, WaMu left me to face their goonish collections agency.

Not quite sure how I'm going to handle WaMu's dysfunction going forward, but am committed to walking away satisfied - so, stay tuned!

In the meantime, just to put it out there, I welcome hearing from anyone at WaMu (at anytime) who feels confident they can resolve my concerns - not rocket science, I promise. But for the record, I'm done with calling your customer service center.

Net Presidential Buzz: Actions Speak Louder Than Words

2007-05-22T07:24:38-07:00

Candidate	Techno	Blogs In	Links	Alexa	Quant	PgRnk	Mindshare
Obama	58	6,594	12,140	13,038	8,967	7	4,780
Clinton	134	4,295	9,464	30,494	9,645	6	9,397
Edwards	154	3,992	9,226	35,575	16,225	6	12,123
McCain	1,583	1,171	2,262	72,095	20,022	5	23,425
Mitt Romney	1,084	1,465	3,512	79,598	36,051	6	27,238
Giuliani	1,362	1,286	2,393	88,333	41,796	6	30,681
Kucinich	1,019	1,507	4,744	88,183	42,303	6	30,684
Ron Paul	1,600	1,168	2,005	80,895	53,321	2	40,745
Gravel	3,407	729	1,592	121,198	74,454	6	46,447
Tancredo	2,160	974	1,406	264,872	21,917	6	67,421
Richardson	1,856	1,062	2,452	244,961	60,235	6	71,645
Biden	4,368	616	1,450	261,261	135,994	6	93,712
Hunter	4,169	637	1,107	355,375	114,325	6	110,569
Dodd	3,982	656	2,109	340,810	207,687	6	128,912
Brownback	4,656	589	988	422,267	175,976	6	140,676
Huckabee	7,454	441	857	495,032	127,470	6	146,990

The above is a snapshot (as of Monday, 5/21/07) of how the blogosphere and the net at large are relating (read: linking) to the candidates' websites online.

The Online Mindshare Ranking = the average of a candidate's website Technorati, Alexa and Quantcast rankings, further weighted by the site's Google Page Rank.

The key follows:

Techno = Technorati Rank
Blogs In = Number of blogs linking in to the base domain over the past 6 months
Total Links = Number of total lifetime links into base domain
Alexa = Alexa ranking
Quant = Quantcast ranking
PgRnk = Google Page Rank
Mindshare Ranking = the average of Technorati, Alexa and Quantcast, weighted for Google Page Rank

Hillary Clinton: Crowd Sorceress?

2007-05-19T19:30:09-07:00

Here's Hillary's latest maneuver to build a stronger community around the brand that is her candidacy:

The idea is a rather cutesy twist on the concept of crowdsourcing, save that Hillary only wants us to help choose her campaign's theme song. Which, is lovely and all...

But, how much more powerful a message would Hillary be sending if she actually enabled and encouraged us to help shape her policy platform? Literally, if she allowed each and every one of us to submit our most thoughtful suggestions - and then enabled us as one community (of Hillary supporters) to vote them up or down?

And, what if she then took the highest-rated suggestions and incorporated them into major policy announcements? Seems to me that she'd be a step closer to becoming a more real representative of the people ... no?

But therein lies the rub ... by giving us real input into something that would actually matter (read also: by entrusting us and bringing us in as true partners), Hillary would have to cede control over her one-way "messaging".

Anybody care to opine as to why that ain't gonna happen anytime soon?

Across the Internets

2007-04-29T18:26:37-07:00

New York Times, Dell Going Indirect?
Daily Dog, From PR to GR (Google Relations)
Recovering Journalist, Newspapers' Online Slog
Lost Remote, Your Brand At Play

The Perils of Free Speech

2007-04-09T09:50:08-07:00

Not to get all Constitutional, but you gotta admit: free speech is a funny thing. We seem to love the idea of it - that is, free speech - right up the point that said speech begins to offend our personal sensibilities.

And the question of whether we should codify civility on the net is all the rage right now, hence this morning's New York Times piece (which so many of you forwarded to me - thank you!).

There are many ways to slice and dice this thing, but when all is said and done, I believe the central question comes down to this: just exactly how much free speech are you/we willing to tolerate? Which, does seem like a bit of a strange question to be asking in these United States...

But, different people, corporations and organizations have different answers to this question, and that's ok. The beauty of the blogosphere is that it's a two-way street. If I come to your site and don't like how you and others are behaving (could be that you're in fact too lame for me), you better believe I'll be making the choice not to come by again. And as it turns out, this great country affords me that freedom as well.

Lastly, I think we have to be careful not to confuse the issues of civility and anonymity. Suffice it to say, there are real benefits to both - and neither should be sacrificed for the other.

Zell Hell

2007-04-08T14:44:39-07:00

Sam Zell - the new owner of the the Tribune Co. - wants to put an end to Google's indexing of the Tribune papers.

Guess he's under the impression that people will search and seek the Tribune's version of the news otherwise?

More on the matter: here, here, here and here.